1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope which is inserted into a body cavity to implement endoscope inspection and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, an endoscope comprising lighting means as well as observation means at the tip of its long and narrow insertion portion has now been widely adopted in medical fields and industrial fields.
In particular, in the case of an endoscope having a flexing insertion portion, a curving portion is provided in the vicinity of the insertion portion so as to be inserted into a bent human body and enable observation in the desired directions and the curving portion is made capable of undergoing curving operation (angle operation) in an operation portion near hands.
In addition, in the case of an electronic endoscope with an image capturing element which is built in at the tip portion, the operation portion is provided with a plurality of scope switches, such as a freeze switch for instructing display of still pictures, to a signal processing apparatus of implementing signal processing on the image capturing element. And an operator is made capable of carrying out various kinds of operations with one hand grasping a grip portion in the operation portion.
In addition, there is Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H9-276214, for example, as a prior art endoscopic apparatus subject to further improvement in operability so as to get capable of changing setting of a function of implementing allocation of the above described a plurality of scope switches changeable.